Hello lovelies! I’ve been spending past couple of months trying to grow my nails to almond shape and getting over a flu plus yet another kidney infection (pyelonephritis). I feel like the whole family has taken turns being sick for the past three months. After everyone is healthy again the round starts from the beginning. Now that I have mostly recovered from the kidney infection the kids are snotty and have fever again. Fun times!
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Category: Nail Care
Growing my nails to almond shape
On my last post I talked about my summer and here’s how my nails are doing at the moment.
They are very short. Much shorter than I’d like them to be and I’d be lying if I told you I haven’t considered going for the UV-gel to help me grow some length again. But the thing is that I removed the gel layover cos of health reasons and the fact that I just didn’t have energy or time to fix the layover every two weeks cos I can’t stand the visible growth line. So I just have to keep reminding myself of those reasons and keep going.
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Back to natural nails 2016 – Second IBX treatment
On Monday it was time for my second IBX treatment. You can read about my first experience here. The first treatment took away all the sensitivity and that stayed away too. Also my nails did feel stronger and healthier just after one treatment.
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Back to natural nails 2016 – Nail growing project begins once again
So here we are again with yet another nail growing project. I just got tired of fixing the gel layover and I simply miss the feeling of natural nails. I filed all the length off my nails so I can get used to these nubbins and I still have the gel layover on them, for now. Next weekend I’m going to remove all the gel and I’m going for my first ever IBX treatment on Monday, a week from now.
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Monthly favorites: June
This is my first “Monthly favorites” post. Eventually I’m going to do a video instead of a regular blog post but I haven’t got to that point yet so at least for June favorites this is just a blog post. These posts will have products that have already been seen on my blog as well as products I haven’t talked about here but I’ve been using regularly.
So here are some products I’ve been using and loving during June:
Essie Ridge Filling base coat
Since Essie Nourish Me/Feed Me is no longer available here in Finland I need a new base under my Stuck On Blu! base coat. Yes, I use two base coats 99% of the time. The first base coat that goes straight on my nails needs to be a treatment type of base coat that is not a nail hardener. I need it to be more nourishing or my nails start to dry and peel. Since Nourish Me is no more, Essie Finland recommended that I try their Ridge Filling base coat instead.
Sally Hansen 18K Gold Hardener
Today it’s time for my review of the new Sally Hansen 18K Gold Hardener. As I have previously mentioned I usually don’t use nail strengtheners cos they make my nails too hard and they start to peel and chip easier. How ever Sally Hansen Nail Rehab base coat worked so well for me that I wanted to give this one a try too.
Back to natural nails – The result
About 6 months ago I decided to get rid of my gel nails and grow my natural nails back. I removed the gel completely from my right hand nails and grew it out from my left hand nails. It was a long process and now I’m finally at the point where my nails are healthy and they are not peeling or breaking.
During this nail growing project I found some new products that work great for me and also tested some that don’t work for my nails. At the moment my nails are growing fast but I’m keeping them at this length and not trying to grow them longer. Right now the perfect shape is more important to me than length. I also have 2,5 months old baby and weather is getting colder. So also for those reasons I’m not even trying to have longer nails.
I’m quite happy with the way they look now. My nails feel strong and healthy and they are actually in the best condition they’ve ever been before. Biggest thanks I owe to Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil and nail care tips I’ve read from NailCareHQ.com. I’m working on a blog post about my current nail care routines and products I use so I’m not going to go in to details here. I just want to show you the results this time and the nail care post will be up soon enough.
I know that some of you out there might be fighting with peeling and weak nails right now or you might be growing out acrylics/gel nails. By showing you my result I hope I can give a little extra kick to your nail growing project and show you that in the end your patience and taking good care of your nails is rewarded with beautiful and healthy natural nails :)
So this is where I started from at the end of May:
Yeah, I know. Looks like a mission impossible and if you thought that was bad, take a look at this next photo taken about a week later, right after nail polish remover. (Duri Rejuvacote was one of the products that did not work for my nails at all. It caused peeling and breaking which is what most nail strengtheners do for my nails).n.
Dry, damaged, weak nails and horrible cuticles. I had a looooong road ahead of me growing these nails back to being healthy.
And here’s were I’m now:
I’m so very proud of myself for having the patience to do this and not go back to gel nails. My nails are naturally very thin and they peel and break easily. Bliss Kiss and Ana’s nail care tips have changed everything for me. As I said earlier I have a post coming up soon about my nail care routines and on that post I explain how I keep my nails looking like this.
*** I don’t benefit from clicking the link on this post.
Sally Hansen Nail Rehab nail treatment
Since I grew out the gel nails I needed to start looking for good base coats and treatments for my natural nails. I also got an opportunity to test Sally Hansen Nail Rehab treatment. Usually nail strengtheners are not good for me and instead of making my nails stronger they make them break and peel.
Nail Rehab bottle does have the word “Strengthener” on it but I still decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did. Usually if something doesn’t work for my nails they start peeling and looking dry very fast. That happened with Duri Rejuvacote just after the third time I used it. I have now used over half a bottle of Nail Rehab and there is no peeling or any other problems at all.
To make sure it was a good product for me I only used Nail Rehab on my manicures for almost two months. On top of it I apply a coat of Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! base coat before the polish and top coat. Between manicures I use Bliss Kiss nail oil to hydrate my nails before applying the treatment again. I only keep my nails without polish on them for an hour max at the moment since I have to wash my hands all the time cos of the new baby.
Nail Rehab has a thick-ish formula and it also smooths out your nails like a ridge filler. On the photo below I still have a gel layover on part of my nails and two coats of Nail Rehab hides the growth line almost perfectly. The color is also just lovely natural looking peachy shade. It hides possible stains on your nails when you apply two coats of it. If you have a busy day you can just apply two coats of Nail Rehab and have perfect looking nude nails.
While using Nail Rehab my manicures have stayed good at least for 2 to 3 days without chipping. I could probably go for a few days longer but I get tired of looking at the same polish ;)
So all in all this treatment works perfectly for my nails. Doesn’t make them peel or dry. Makes a good base for a manicure and doesn’t cause the polish to chip faster than usual. I can’t say if this makes my nails stronger but it doesn’t cause peeling or drying for my nails like so many other base coats and treatments do and that’s enough for me.
Only thing I’d change about this is the brush. The bristles are really short and stiff. It took some time to get used to it but after a while I didn’t have issues with the application and the brush anymore.
If you’re looking for an affordable treatment for your nails I recommend you give this one a try too. Works great for me!
***This was sent for review.
Back to natural nails – progress on both hands
Today I’ll show you how my “Back to natural nails” project is going. On the photos you can see about month and a half of growth on my right hand nails and 3 weeks progress on growing out the gel layover on my left hand nails. This is always such a long and patience requiring project but so far so good. Naturally I’d like to have strong and long natural nails instantly but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way :P
So here’s where I started from 29th of May. Ultra short nubbins damaged by removal of the gel layover.
And here’s how they looked yesterday 15th of July. There’s still a tiny bit of the damaged part left on my pinky, ring and middle finger nails. Another week of growing and then filing them shorter again should do the trick with those nails and then they are all my natural nails and all healthy.
Index finger nail is another story though. It had some gel left on it since it was fixed one more time later than the other three so there’s still some growing to do. Now the gel layover is gone due to a moment of “Do as I say, not as I do” action. The layover started to lift a bit and in all my wisdom I decided to just rip it of. NEVER do that!! Always file the layover off GENTLY and CAREFULLY without damaging your natural nail! So now I have a very thin and damaged part of the nail to grow out for the next few weeks *sigh*
So let’s move on to the left hand. Here’s how the nails were doing 21st of June.
And here’s the situation yesterday, 15th of July. So on the photo you can see about 3 weeks of growth. The gel layover is still perfectly attached and I’ll leave it be for now on. I keep filing these nails shorter once a week and now there isn’t a huge difference between my right and left hand nails. Both thumbs are in the same point with these ones. About half of the nail plate showing and the rest still has the gel layover on it.
Then let’s talk a bit about the products I’ve been using.
I’m still using Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil daily and my opinion about that hasn’t changed. It’s simply amazing and my nails love it! It has made the world of good for my cuticles and my nails always look nice and well moisturized.
I have also been testing Duri Rejuvacote and I’m afraid it does the same to my nails as most nail strengtheners do, it makes my nails peel. If I use it for three or more manicures in a row my nails start to peel. I switched to Essie Nourish Me but that didn’t stop the peeling completely so I took a few days break from nail polish and just kept applying Pure Nail Oil several times a day. Then I filed off all the length and peeling parts and kept using the oil.
Now I’m going to test Sally Hansen Nail Rehab treatment and see if that works for me. I’m really dying to find a good base coat/treatment for my nails. I always use Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! on top of the treatments, before the polish to prevent staining. I also like the sticky base it creates for the polish.
So all in all the nail growing project is moving along nicely. I’m happy to have my natural nails back and very excited to see if I can find the right products to keep them healthy too.
***Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil and Essie Nourish Me were purchased by me. Duri Rejuvacote and Sally Hansen Nail Rehab were sent to me for free.